samedi 31 janvier 2015

Why addict the Jem'Hadar to Ketracel White?


One of the few things that bothers me about the Dominion arc in Deep Space Nine is the Jem'Hadar. I enjoy the concept but I don't understand why they would be genetically addicted to Ketracel White (or anything else for that matter).


First off, the Dominion has proven that it is capable of breeding loyalty and obedience into a species. The Vorta are almost completely loyal and obedient to the Dominion with very rare exceptions. One of those exceptions shouldn't really count because the Weyoun clone was still loyal to a Founder, Odo. Really, the only example of a Vorta not doing his/her job as prescribed by the Founders is in Rocks and Shoals when Keevan allows himself to be captured rather than killed by his own Jem'Hadar.


Speaking of that, that brings up liability number one of using a drug as a method of troop control. If/when they run out, the Jem'Hadar go ballistic and kill everything in sight uncontrollably.


Liability number two is exposed in A Time to Stand. With the Gamma Quadrant and the supply of White cut off, Starfleets first move was to go after White production in the Alpha Quadrant. The Dominion may as well have put signs up saying "this is our weak spot."


The third liability is a bit more subtle because it's random and can't easily be exploited. In Hippocratic Oath, Bashir and O'Brien meet a Jem'Hadar who was "born" without the addiction. As soon as a Jem'Hadar realizes that he doesn't need the White, he realizes he doesn't have to do what his Vorta tells him and it goes downhill from there.


Ignoring the social implications (which can be hard to do with DS9, especially Avery Brooks, sometimes) and staying COMPLETELY in universe, why would the Dominion use an addiction that would open them up to such obvious liabilities instead of simply breeding the qualities they wanted into their soldiers like they did with the Vorta?





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